Recently, as attention on home networks is rapidly increasing, portable terminals allowing use of a cellular network and a short range wireless network are under development. Examples of the short range wireless communication technology include a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) and a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN).
Primarily, the portable terminal supporting the cellular network and the short range wireless network can use the same service as the service provided from the cellular network by registering itself to an Access Point (AP) of the short range wireless network.
When a communication module for supporting the short range wireless network is turned on, a conventional portable terminal receives beacon signals from neighbor APs until discovering the AP corresponding to a Service Set ID (SSID) to connect, connects to the corresponding AP when the AP to connect is found, and thus receives the service. That is, when the corresponding AP is not found while the communication module for supporting the short range wireless network is turned on, the portable terminal continues to searching for the corresponding AP. Such operations waste the power of the portable terminal when there is no corresponding AP. Thus, the conventional portable terminal allows the user to turn on and off the communication module which supports the short range wireless network if the AP access is necessary.
However, the user's direct manipulation causes the user inconvenience. In addition, when the user does not turn on and off the short range communication module, the necessary service is unusable or the power is wasted.